Leaving Central Florida on Saturday morning after a wonderful week of Walt Disney World would normally cause me to drag my feet in just about every way possible. But the return trip home had a silver lining that provided some excitement: SEC Football would be on in some form or another throughout the trip and thanks to mobile WiFi, I wouldn't be left out in the cold.
Little did I know that by the end of the day, another SEC shakeup would take place in what was thought to be a pretty routine day.
Ole Miss, fresh off a bye week and still reveling after handling Georgia in Oxford, came into the day with aspirations of an SEC Championship and playoff spot. They just needed to take care of an underachieving Gator Team and throw their archrivals, Mississippi State, out of the way to close the season in prime condition for a playoff berth.
Bama headed out to play an anticipated, but not quite as once regarded matchup against the Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners have had so many injuries that the Tide would surely have little problem dispatching Oklahoma, then set their sites on next week's annual Iron Bowl clash.
Both the Rebels and the Tide returned to campus with their playoff hopes all but gone in the early morning hours.
The Texas A&M Aggies entered Saturday's match-up with the Auburn Tigers in Jordan-Hare Stadium with a lot of confidence. And why not? The Aggies had just one loss in SEC play and still very much controlled their own destiny, where Auburn needed back-to-back wins over the Aggies and Alabama next week to be bowl eligible.
After four overtime periods, Auburn's postseason hopes are still intact and the Aggies are now in a win or die scenario going into this week's renewed rivalry game against Texas.
In the center of the conversation approaching the final week of the regular season is the fate of the four teams at the top of the SEC standings: Texas, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas A&M.
Georgia's SEC schedule is done - the Bulldogs will play in-state rival Georgia Tech in a non-conference meeting. Texas and A&M will meet Saturday - the loser is sure to be out of a playoff spot. Finally, Tennessee squares-off with Vandy, which has left plenty of victims in its wake this year.
One thing we can all say about this season: no matter how much we may or may not like it (or hate it outright), one thing is for sure: there hasn't been a shortage of surprises in 2024. And we're not even to championship Saturday.
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family!
